Hotel Courtyard a Niagara Falls

It is Sunday morning, the first day of May and a beautiful morning (at least for now) in Niagara Falls, NY, where we are staying at the Niagara Falls Courtyard. We arrived here last night after a six hour drive from Ann Arbor where we attended the University of Michigan graduation. We chose this hotel in part because it was approximately half way between Ann Arbor and our home in Albany plus it offered an opportunity to see the falls from a vantage point different from the Canadian side, where we typically stay when traveling between Michigan and New York. Having driven nearly 400 miles and arriving at 10:00 pm, we were very pleased to be welcomed by Chris who checked us in a personable, yet professional manner. Besides giving us our room keys, she gave us a quick overview of the hotel’s amenities, directed us to a luggage cart and then the elevator. This is the third Marriott property that we have stayed in during this trip and Chris’s welcome was by far the best we had received Also, when I asked about what seemed to be a hint of a chocolate scent in the entry way, she explained that the building used to be a Chocolate Factory. Maybe the gods were at play because I am a big fan of Chocolate Upon entry into our third floor room, we were first taken aback by its size but then realized that we had been staying in Residence Inns , whose suites are noticeably larger. Having said this, the room was perfect for the two if us, had a king size bed, a couch and sitting area, a desk, and even a small balcony. It was decorated in what I would call semi-modern and everything was clean and the bathroom had plenty of towels, etc. Besides Chocolate, I also am a fan of Marriott pillows and was pleased to see the bed had four pillows plus a backing to sit up against. Our one complaint was the lack of enough coffee packets (only two) and we had to go down to the lobby to purchase two Starbucks coffees which were excellent as was the service we received from Rachel. We then headed off to the Niagara Falls State Park, which was a relatively easy mile walk away. Overall, on a five point scale, I give the Niagara Falls Courtyard a rating of 4.5 I know this is long, but after checking in, I read some of the earlier reviews and we did not experience any of the problems mentioned in these. I hope that anyone who stays at this hotel has the same positive experience we have had.